


Pride and New Friends

by RandoFando_Spoonie



Series: 911/LS POC Appreciation Week 2020 [5]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV), 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: 911sPOCAppreciationWeek, F/F, Gen, Paul makes new friends, Pride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25748953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandoFando_Spoonie/pseuds/RandoFando_Spoonie
Summary: Paul Strickland goes to LA Pride and makes a few new friends.
Relationships: Henrietta "Hen" Wilson/Karen Wilson, Michael Grant & Henrietta "Hen" Wilson & Karen Wilson
Series: 911/LS POC Appreciation Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859533
Comments: 10
Kudos: 63





	Pride and New Friends

Paul wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not, but he'd saved up the money, he'd taken the time off and so here he was, LA Pride. The parade had been incredible and now Paul was at some kind of 'after party' at one of the smaller clubs in the area. He sat at the bar, beer in hand and kind of wished TK and Carlos were here too. 

“This seat taken?” He turned and smiled at an older bald, black man.

“Um...no.” Paul took a drink of beer, trans flag and he/him pins on shirt, the other man had a rainbow flag.

“Michael.” He said, holding out his hand.

“Paul.”

“Not from around her huh?” Michael ordered a beer, smiling.

“No, Austin by way of Chicago.”

“Heck of a journey.” Michael nodded, “Noticed you're not wearing a rainbow flag, are you?”

“Straight,” Paul admitted, “But you know.” He tapped the trans pin and Michael grinned.

“Gotcha, well welcome to the community. I'm here with a couple friends, you wanna join us?” Michael gestured to a table where two black women, both wearing lesbian flag pins were sitting and holding hands.

“Thanks. And um...sure?”

Michael smiled, “Thought you might not wanna be alone but no pressure.”

“Actually you know what, my usual clubbing buddies had to stay in Austin and I was just lamenting how much I missed them. Making new friends in the community, even long distance ones sounds great.”

Michael grinned and led Paul over to the two women.

“Hen, Karen, this is Paul, he's visiting from Austin. Paul, these are my friends Hen and Karen Wilson.”

“Nice to meet you.” Hen offered her hand, “What brings you to LA?”

“Uh well, LA Pride's always kind of been a bucket list thing for me and my new job finally pays enough that I could save up the money and take the time off to come.”

Karen grinned, “That's awesome. Karen and I come every year. It's amazing.”

Paul nodded, “I can tell. I'm glad my Captain approved my time off.”

“Captain?” Karen looked confused, “Are you military or something?”

Paul laughed, “No ma'am, I'm a firefighter with the 126.”

Hen gasped softly, “That's the firehouse that had lost most of its members in the explosion isn't it?”

Paul blinked, “Yeah it is, I'm one of the newbies. Only Judd survived, he was far enough way that he uh, he only got injured. How'd you know about it.”

“I'm an LA county firefighter EMT, with the 118 here in LA.” She offered her hand again, “Nice to meet a fellow first responder.”

“Yeah it is.” He shook her hand again, “Hey look, my buddy Judd says he knows some guy up here who said there was firefighter up here in LA that took a piece of rebar through the skull and was back to work in like a month. None of us believe him.”

All three of them cracked up laughing and Paul couldn't figure out what was so funny.

“Oh, oh man.” Hen wiped her eyes, “Man it's a small world. Judd's right. My partner Chimney is the one it happened to.” She opened her phone and showed him a picture of an Asian man, pointing out the little 'x' scar on his forehead, “That's where it came out.”

“Holy shit.” He laughed, shaking his head, “That's kind of amazing.”

“How long are you in town? You should come by the firehouse meet everyone.”

Paul grinned, “Really? Sure. That'd be fun.”

Hen and Paul exchanged numbers and the four of them spent the rest of the night enjoying themselves and getting to know each other.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Paul sent a selfie of himself with Chimney to the 126 group text message thread, with a message about who the guy was. Everyone was stunned but happy that Chim was okay.

He went home to Austin with a bunch of new friends, a promise to come back and a promise from Bobby to get in touch with Owen to arrange for some kind of interstate/inter-department learning thing. Paul hoped he could come back to LA and see Hen and the others again soon or that some of the 118 could find their way to Austin instead.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to follow me on Tumblr: RandoFando-Spoonie
> 
> As always kudos/comments aren't necessary but welcomed!


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